ERGO - bigSTORY

E R G O
J o u r n a l
O f
O r g a n i z a t i o n a l
V o l u m e
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I s s u e
IKIRÉ JONES.
IKIRÉ JONES MARRIES AFRO-FUTURIST
STORYTELLING WITH EUROPEAN STYLE
TAILORING
bigSTORY
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CONTRIBUTORS
ERGO is published by bigSTORY
2907 Dalton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90018-3131
323.402.0586
[email protected]
http://www.bigstory.biz
@bigSTORYbiz
EDITOR
MIKE BONIFER
DESIGN & ART DIRECTION
JEREMI KARNELL
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
WALÉ OYÉJIDÉA
PHOTOGRAPHY
ROG WALKER
DAVID EVAN MCDOWELL
SPECIAL THANKS
RASUL SHA'IR
PUBLICATION DATE
JANUARY 2016
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EDITORIAL
BY MIKE BONIFER
The Materiality Issue
Welcome to the inaugural issue of ERGO. The theme of this
issue is what we call Materiality.
When we say material, what do we mean? Obviously, one
thing we mean is stuff. Things. Substances. The blood and
the fascia, the sweat and tears, the ties and nails and papers
and plants and animals and minerals from which our environments are built, and sometimes imposed on us without
any say on our part. This type of material is touchable. Tactile. It can feel good. It can hurt. It can reveal or conceal.
Storytellers mine their networks for a different kind of material: characters, scenarios, experiences and events they can
commercialize, or make visible for some other purpose. To
a journalist, a war presents a material-rich environment. To a
comedian, a politician does. The storyteller generates this
type of material through observation and intention.
Another meaning of material is what matters. Specifically
what matters when, where and how? The quantum storytellers call this 'spacetimemattering.' Things matter differently
in different contexts. What is germane, and available for
processing when we need it?--in other words, ‘material’ to
the situation in which we find ourselves? What matters to
bodybuilders is muscle. What matters to bankers is money.
The lives of the poor can be shaped by water. Religion matters to a lot of people. Their stories cannot be separated
from their belief systems.
Blacksmiths refer to certain tools used in their smithing
as ‘ready-to-hand.’ That means a tool is where it’s needed,
when it’s needed, for the purpose it’s needed. The connection between a piece of white-hot iron fresh from the fire, a
proper hammer, and the smith’s intentions toward the future
of that piece of iron, is said to be material.
The new fashion brand Ikiré Jones blows up the concept of
materiality and incorporates it into all aspects of the brand.
Its cofounder and CEO, Walé Oyéjidé, creates a series of
Afro-Futurist sci-fi stories, then he and team delve into those
stories for design inspiration, guiding principles, and social
relevance—which, in turn, are reflected in the product and
brand.
I haven’t worn anything Ikiré Jones yet (though I have my
eye on that jacket from the Escape from New Lagos story)
so this is me guessing: When a person dons an item of Ikiré
Jones apparel, one isn’t just donning a piece of tailored
cloth. One is wearing one’s connection to a story. Demonstrating one’s place in the future, and what it will take to
bring it about. One is wearing one’s materiality.
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IKIRÉ
JONES.
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THE STORYTELLERS
IKIRÉ JONES IS THE ENDEAVOR OF
DESIGNER/AFROBEAT MUSICIAN/
ATTORNEY WALÉ OYÉJIDÉ, AND
MUSICIAN/BESPOKE TAILOR
SAM HUBLER.
Walé Oyéjidé / Ikiré Jones.
somebody who didn’t look like me.
Walé Oyéjidé is the c0-founder and CEO
of Ikiré Jones, a fashion brand rising out
of Philly. Once he was a disinterested employee of Banana Republic. Later, an indifferent dresser as a successful Philadelphia
lawyer. His girlfriend challenged him to up
his fashion game. He did. GQ named him
one of their Five Best Dressed Men in 2010.
Here are people who, because of the way the
country’s economy is set up, don’t have a lot
of examples of African-originated individuals
who are doing things on a sophisticated business level.
Imagination now on overdrive, he dreamed
up a man living in West Africa in the year
2081. Named him Ikiré Jones. Wrote a series of sci-fi stories about him. Quit lawyering and designed what Ikiré Jones
wore. Another beginning. A new game.
We talked with Walé about the material
the Ikiré Jones brand is made of. You say
cotton? We say that's only one thread of
the story...
CULTURAL MATERIAL
This summer I found myself in Sao Paulo, Brazil, giving a lecture on my work. I’d never been
to Brazil before. They have 16 different racial
classifications in Brazil.. For the people in the
audience, it was novel and unaware for them
to see an individual of African descent speaking to them about sophisticated storytelling
in a way they would only expect to see from
They’re seeing a guy who started from the
bottom, made his own thing, and is traveling the world with his work, and is using his
work to communicate stories about people
of color. For them, it was way more powerful
than somebody selling clothes, it was a living
example of what many people there are still
struggling to achieve. And that’s something I
did not foresee, or had no kind of designs on
manifesting.
You can tell a small story that has tangible
and powerful effects literally across the
world. Your efforts in your backroom can become really important to people who grasp
onto them and use them to propel their own
lives forward.
access would take their parents old records
and sample the records and make something
new. That was the way I started making music…and it’s essentially the same way I make
clothing. I oftentimes will mine from artwork
from different parts of the world, and use
these collage styles to tell new stories from
old mediums. It’s me taking old energy and
making something new.
There are people like you and me who can
visualize things. We can see things in our
heads. And we are fortunate in that way. But a
lot of people need to be led, in the sense that
they need to see something before they can
conceive that they can actually do it themselves.
By creating new work that features people
of color in a classical sense, we then inspire
a new generation of people of color to create work of their own. It perpetuates forward
like that. Using what’s been made in the past
and recycling it into the future. And it goes on
and on. And that’s the quiet thing in what I’m
doing.
NEW MATERIAL
CLOTH MATERIAL
I mine equity from what already exists.
Before I was a designer, I was a lawyer, before
I was a lawyer, I was a musician. I was a guitarist and hip-hop producer. The story of hiphop is kids in the inner city who didn’t have
A lot of what we use are African prints that
are made either in Africa by artisans there, or
they’re printed in Europe for the African market. They tend to be interesting in that they’re
tactile—they’re cottons—but they’re printed,
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Because we have had such a
troubling past, if we can pre-write
what’s ahead of us, it will force us
to align into that grid of what things
are supposed to be like.
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and each print carries with it some kind of social significance. What happens is that you’re
wearing these brightly colored clothings and
designs that are very intricately made, but
they also have quiet social significance to
people who are aware of it.
It’s not unlike in Europe, the Scottish have different patterns for their tartans representing
different clans. Somebody who is not aware
would just see a beautiful pattern. But if you
take it back to the village where it’s from,
they’d go, “Oh yeah, I understand this is made
by these certain people. “
We’re taking those patterns and introducing
them, the West African side, to Europeanstyle tailoring. It’s like what would happen if
Ralph Lauren was born in Africa or something
like that. I myself grew up in West Africa and
I’m very much an American citizen. So I’ve
been informed by where I grew up, and was
raised from, just as we all are. Out of two different cultures, or several different cultures,
you have a new identity that everybody can
appreciate.
AFRICAN MATERIAL
It’s becoming a common adage now, of telling one’s own narrative so that nobody else
does it for you. There’s room for so much misinterpretation. When you don’t understand
the culture, you’re not going to know the nuances, and you get big open headlines which
can fall in any possible direction. I guess the
word is 'authentic' — not necessarily factual
but true to the essence of what I know.
When you say the word ‘Africa,’ certain images come to mind. By and large they’re not
very positive. Those things you think of are
absolutely there. They’re absolutely true.
They’re a fraction of the pie. Of the pizza. You
get a slice. There’s so much more.
Nobody’s a cowboy in a black or white hat.
We’re all in between, doing what we can. For
me, it’s the idea of pushing these small nar-
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ratives that show different aspects of life and
culture. These aren’t necessarily bedtime
happy stories. They’re stories that are more
full, and more rich, so that when you look at
the things from the whole, you get a better
understanding of a place that’s very complicated.
FUTURE MATERIAL
'Afro-Futurism' is the term. It speaks to the
idea of placing science fiction on the continent of Africa. This has been a neglected
portion of the world where the future is concerned. People project stories about Africa
into the future and it allows them to shape
the world that they want to live in, rather than
having these negative stereotypes that have
been carried with us from the past for various
reasons.
We now have a perception of what potential
lies ahead, and with that potential, it affects
what we’re doing now.
Because we have had such a troubling past,
if we can pre-write what’s ahead of us, it will
force us to align into that grid of what things
are supposed to be like.
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02
01
VISUAL DIARY
IKIRÉ JONES.
EACH PHOTO REPRESENTS A COLLECTION THAT HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM A THEME AND CORRESPONDING NARRATIVE.
01 SS16 "& Other Stories By Our Stolen Children"
The youngest of us were forcefully taken from our classrooms. Spirited away by ideologues who believed only in what they could wrench
from the praying hands of people who sought peace. Elsewhere.
When the virus swept through our town, it dragged us from the embraces of our mothers' arms, and into the sterile sadness of hospital wards that could not conceal us from the dark. Meanwhile, at the
edges the Mediterranean, some of us were washed-up on the shores.
Separated from homes that were miles across the desert. Separated
from families that were miles beneath the waves.
02 FW14 "Of Saints & Savages"
To whom it may concern. This is a challenge to the zealously held belief that Africa is a monolithic village in need of perpetual saving. This
is an open assault upon the delusions of those who cry endlessly of
desolate stomachs and doorways darkened by disease. This is a public disavowing of all who think the cradle of civilization has nothing
more to offer than unmolested raw materials and an army of open
palms awaiting aid.
http://www.ikirejones.com/collections/
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03 SS14 "Balotelli's Burden"
Named for the near-legendary Italian soccer player of Ghanaian descent, our Balotelli pop-over shirt is an homage to the many Africans
who have emigrated to Europe in search of opportunity. Whether they
be players of The Beautiful Game, or tourists of the beautiful streets,
not all of them are welcomed with open arms. This garment is a sober reminder that there are still individuals who face mistreatment
because of their hue and heritage. By combining soft-Italian tailoring
with prints reminiscent of West Africa, the Balotelli bolsters the notion
that beautiful things are born when we allow our cultures to boldly
intertwine.
04 SS14 "The Untold Renaissance"
05 FW13 "Escape To New Lagos"
http://www.ikirejones.com/collections/
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ERGO |
IKIRÉ JONES.
NARRATIVE-BASED DESIGN
WHAT IS ERGO?
ERGO™ is bigSTORY’s proprietary game structure. It stands for
Environment / Roles /Guidelines / Objective. An ERGO™ is a story
engine. It explores and expresses themes, creates focus at any scale,
and generates positive outcomes that cannot be anticipated or predicted from the design of the game.
01 ENVIRONMENT
Africa, 2085
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02 ROLES
Storyteller (Walé Oyejide)
Designer (Walé Oyejide)
Tailor (Sam Hubler)
03 GUIDELINES
•
•
•
•
•
Storyteller mines cultural and historical equity to create Afro-Futurist
sci-fi stories featuring the character Ikiré Jones
Designer mines stories for materials (cloth, socio/cultural, narrative,
geography, time, etc.)
Storyteller uses materials to build out Ikiré Jones' brand
Designer sketches Ikiré Jones' wardrobe inspired by and/or suited to
the context of the stories
Tailor produces Ikiré Jones originals in European style
04 OBJECTIVE
Florence Fashion Week, January 2016, generates $1mm in international
contracts.
bigSTORY
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www.bigSTORY.biz
bigSTORY helps brands and agencies use organizational storytelling to drive
revenue, customer advocacy and employee retention.
ERGO is published by bigSTORY
2907 Dalton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90018-3131
323.402.0586
[email protected]
http://www.bigstory.biz
@bigSTORYbiz